Wolf Questions
Are all gray wolves gray in color? No, the term gray wolf is a species name. Gray wolves can be white, black, tan, brown, or grizzled, which is a combination of tans, browns, and black. How long do wolves live? The average is seven years in the wild and twelve years in captivity. How much do adult wolves weigh? North American Gray Wolves range from 40 to 175 pounds, with female wolves weighing slightly less than males. Wolves in the northern United States tend to be larger some reaching 130 pounds or more. The heaviest wolf on record was 175 pounds and was killed in Alaska in 1939. How fast can wolves run and how far do they travel? Wolves trot at 5 miles per hour, but they can run in short bursts at up to 35 miles per hour. They can travel as much as 30 miles per day hunting for food. What is the main cause of wolf mortality? In areas with people, human activity is a major cause of wolf mortality. Starvation and injuries from territorial aggression can also cause deaths. Canine parvo, distemper, and mange are also responsible for some mortality. How many teeth do wolves have? Wolves have 42 teeth. There are 20 teeth in the upper jaw (six incisors, two canine, eight premolars, and four molars), and 22 teeth in the lower jaw (six incisors, two canine, eight premolars, and six molars). How strong are wolves' jaws? The wolf's jaw can exert 1500 pounds of pressure per square inch, twice the jaw pressure of a German Shepherd. Wolves can crush large bones in just a few bites. How long is their gestation period? The gestation period is approximately 63 days. How many pups are usually born? The average litter is five pups. It can vary depending on the abundance of prey, wolf population density, and the size of available territory. How much do pups weight when they are born? Newborn wolves weigh about one pound. What is the main prey of wolves? Their main prey is caribou, elk, white tail deer, moose, and bison. What is the social structure of the pack? There is an alpha male and alpha female who are the leaders of the pack. They are also the most likely pair to breed. The beta wolves’ are in second position and finally the omega wolf is in the lowest position within the pack. How large is the pack size? Packs can range from 2 to 36 wolves. Average pack size is six wolves. A pack usually consists of an alpha male, alpha female, current offspring, and a few yearlings. There also may be a few adult subordinate wolves in the pack. Wolves will usually stay with the pack until 2-3 years of age. At that time, they may choose to disperse to find a new pack or to start a new pack. Pack sizes depend on the available prey and territory. Wolf packs in Alaska and Canada are usually larger then in the lower 48 states. How do wolves communicate? They communicate is a variety of ways. Vocalizations include howling, growling, whimpering, whining, and barking. They also communicate by eye contact, facial expressions, and body movement and posture. Scent marking is also used. How many species of wolf are there? There are three species of wolves in the world: the gray wolf (Canis lupus), the red wolf (Canis rufus), and the Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis)sometimes referred to as the Abyssinian wolf. What are the diffrence between red wolves and gray wolves? The red wolf and gray wolf are two different species of wolf. The red wolf is smaller than most gray wolves. Red wolves range in size from 45 pounds to 80 pounds. Red wolves are mostly brown and tan with black along their backs and red behind the ears while gray wolves can be entirely black, white and any natural combination in between. Red wolves have pointier facial features than gray wolves. Red wolf howls are higher in pitch and more screechy than those of gray wolves. The red wolf diet is made up of a combination of white-tailed deer, raccoons, rabbits and other rodents such as mice and nutria. The gray wolf diet includes elk, moose, mule deer, white-tailed deer, bison, caribou, mountain goats, beaver, rabbits and musk oxen from the arctic. Both red wolves and gray wolves are shy and elusive and stay away from humans. Wild red wolves live only in the United States where gray wolf populations occupy diverse lands in the earth’s northern hemisphere. The red wolf is listed as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. Only certain populations of gray wolves share this same status. How fast can a wolf run? Wolves are not known for their speed but they can achieve top speed around 35mph in short bursts in pursuit of prey. Wolves do have great endurance. They can travel very long distances at a lope around 5mph. How big was the largest wolf in the world? The largest wolf ever recorded was shot dead in northwestern Bulgaria 2007 and weighed in at 176.4 lbs. The largest wolf recorded in Yellowstone National Park (2011) weighed in at 147. Both of these large gray wolves were male. How much do wolves eat? All wolves are meat eaters - carnivores. Wolves are gorging animals meaning they can eat great amounts of meat in a single sitting (for gray wolves - about 20 pounds) and then go for days and even weeks without food at all. Adult gray thrive on an average of 7 pounds of food per day but can survive on an average as little as 2 pounds per day. Red wolves thrive on an average of 2-5 pounds of food per day. What is a Wolf Pack? Wolves live in family units called packs. Wolf packs usually consist of the breeding pair or parents and their offspring of varying ages. It is not uncommon for unrelated wolves to join a family or pack. What does Alpha wolf mean? The parent wolves in a pack are often referred to as the “alpha pair,” consisting of an alpha male and alpha female. While “alpha” is still widely used, most scientists prefer to identify the parents of the pack as the breeding pair or simply as the pack parents. Is there such thing as a lone wolf? Wolves are social animals that live in family units called packs. Every pack will be unique but most consist of a breeding pair and their offspring of different ages. Between the ages of 2 and 3 yrs old, most males and some female offspring will leave the pack in order to start a pack of their own. During this period, wolves often live alone for days, weeks or longer until they find a mate or join an existing pack. When are wolf pups born? Wolves in North America are born during the months of April, May and the first week of June in the far north. Why do wolves howl? Wolves howl to communicate with one another over long distances. Wolves can hear one another howl up to 10 miles away in open terrain. Wolves can howl to locate other wolves, advertize the size of their pack or territory, and to warn other packmates of danger. Each wolf has a unique howl and when every member of the pack joins in, the individual howls and their harmonies give the listener the impression that pack is larger than it actually is. http://www.californiawolfcenter.org/learn/wolf-facts/ http://nywolf.org/learn/faq Category:Wolves